Message systems of the type with which the invention may find particular utility may be maintained by a business or other organization for use by its own personnel, or by a communications services provider that provides its services on behalf of its customers and their personnel. The message system may receive, store, and provide access to messages through a network, such as the Internet. Messages may be sent from a sending client device (e.g., fax machine, cell phone, etc.) through the Internet and/or a Public-Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and eventually routed to the message system. The messages may then be converted to a digital message file in a particular format, if not already in that format, and stored by the message system. For example, a facsimile message may be converted to portable document format (pdf) and stored as a .pdf file on the message system and a voice message may be converted to MP3 format and stored as an .mp3 file on the message system.
To provide access to the messages, the message system may provide a website that provides remotely located and often geographically dispersed recipients access to a list of their messages, and may include a server to furnish the message list as well as those messages stored in the message system that are selected by the intended recipients. The messages are typically furnished in a well-known format, such as in hyper-text mark-up language (HTML).
The intended recipient of the messages may use a receiving client device to access his/her messages stored on and assessable from the message system. The receiving client device may have a browser to provide a user interface (UI) that permits access to the messages through the Internet. Typically, a UI formatted in hyper-text mark-up language (HTML) may be used to access facsimile or voice messages on the message system. For example, the UI may display the list of messages described above, and, in response to “selection” by the recipient of a particular facsimile message, may display the facsimile message through a separate document viewer program in a popup window or playback a voice message through a separate audio player program in a popup window.
However, as different types of messages and formats increase, the complexity of providing access to the messages also increases. In particular, conventional UIs are limited in their capability of presenting messages and formats of widely varying types. Further, conventional UIs are not able to meet user demand for a more seamless and easier way to access messages from the message system.